July was a crazy month for us. We closed on our new house, moved all of our crap, spent another two weeks unpacking, and finally are starting to settle in. It’s been entirely disruptive in the best possible way, but I am ready to find my routines again.

Last Month’s Goals

1. Write something every other day.
2. Move to the next stage for my stories.
3. Read three books.
4. Exercise every day.

Write something every other day?

No, for obvious reasons. We must have spent what felt like a full month packing every night, and then unpacking every time, so that meant less writing time. I kept up with posting on this site, which is something. Otherwise, I only spent one day on any revisions for Uprooted.

The good news is that I only have a few more notes to work through for that draft, so August will also include whatever my next step is. And, critically, deciding what my next step is.

Move to the next stage for my stories?

Oh, hey, I had a specific item for this, which I definitely did not forget about. Well, that cements it, then. I’m going to carry this goal into August and make meaningful progress on these stories. I think I will focus on revising New Earth next.

Read three books?

Yes! I managed to finish three audiobooks in July. I have also been on a bit of a tear the last week with A Memory of Light. I’m into the final final act, and I can’t really put it down at this point. I’m going to finish this book in August, probably within the next week.

Exercise every day?

No, but I fared much better here than in my writing goals. I had twenty-two days of physical activity in July. In that count I’m including basically a full week of moving boxes, a full day of moving furniture, a day of significant playtime with my boys at a picnic, and another day of playtime at a local pool.

My home workout routine definitely took a hit, but I was physically exhausted for two straight weeks with moving.

I did not change-up my routine as quickly as I had hoped, but I likely will in August. In our new home, I’m a 5-10-minute walk from a big franchise type gym. I have no excuse not to become a member there and try to workout at least a couple times a week.

Goals for August

1. Read three books. Getting this out of the way early.
2. Exercise every day. How my routine evolves is an open question, but I’m not going to jump headlong back into serious weight-lifting after a four-year hiatus. I want to keep up with yoga and resistance training, so any weight-training will be mixed in.
3. Write at least every other day. Continuing the trend of not counting my haiku as part of this, meaning I have to put more focus into my stories.
4. Move to the next stage for my duology. I think this will be a read-through of New Earth, looking for narrative, thematic, and tonal consistency with Uprooted, and overall plot.

Steve D